UPDATE:

Oklahoma DA moves to file charges against four local elders for not reporting child abuse! Worldwide Work money is being spent to DEFEND the locally charged child molester. Motions by the accused' attorney have been filed to end the case due to the statue of limitations. In Oklahoma the statue of limitations on the crime of child abuse, starts from the moment of disclosure, this happens to be when the victims came forward in 2013. For those reasons prosecution is moving forward to porsecute the accused and it appears will also allow charges to be placed against the local elders for not reporting the crime to authorities. It seems being an elder will not be as much fun as it once was, as elders are put in jail for following Service Department instructions to not report crimes against children. **

A second question might be when will the Service Department be prosecuted for covering up over 23,000 child molesters for decades? Time will tell as this case pushes the pebble up the hill to move in that direction. Remember each time you make a donation to Jehovah's Witnesses a few pennies of each dollar goes to the defense of accused and convicted peophiles like this one. To date millions of dollars of donated monies have went to prevent Jehovah's Witness child molesters from facing jail time while allowing them further access to children.

As a member or non member THINK, do you really wish to contribute to their defense fund?

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**A brother reports-

One of the Elders that this article is referring in this cover up is praised by WT in the 1982 Watchtower. After a lengthy article on his life this elder gives this quote: *** w82 5/1 p. 6 In Search of Success ***
"As I look back on the changes that I have made in my life, I heartily agree with the words of the apostle Paul recorded at Philippians 3:8. Worldly prestige and prominence are like refuse in comparison to an accurate knowledge of God and Christ, and the marvelous hope of eternal life on a paradise earth.—Contributed by Wendell Marley."

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Jehovah’s Witnesses leadership maintains that they “abhor” child abuse and do not protect child molesters. In 2001 Silentlambs was started to give victims a voice and show how pedophiles were given sanctuary by their policies. This is yet another case in which five years (2005) after the fact, elders were advised to not report a predatory abuser that was serving as an elder. How did this person get reported? The victims came forward with no assistance from the elders to make this crime known. Now the elders are trying to impede a police investigation to protect yet another pedophile. To say you “abhor” child abuse and then help child molesters cover up crime shows that apparently the Governing Body of Jehovah’s Witnesses have created a new definition for the word. To them “abhor” means ‘Support Pedophile Paradise’ as proved by their actions see below….

McALESTER — “The entire church body of the Jehovah Witness Church” allegedly concealed child molestation crimes alleged against a man identified as a former church elder, according to a motion filed in Pittsburg County District Court.

The motion was filed Jan. 28 by the District 18 District Attorneys office in connection with molestation charges against Ronald Lawrence, 76.

Ronald was an elder in the McAlester Jehovah Witness Church, according to McAlester Police Detective Sergeant Chris Morris.

“He is no longer an elder but he is still a member of the church,” Morris said.

According to the motion the State will present an offer of proof regarding concealment of the crime by Lawrence and the “entire church body, most especially the governing body of the Christian Congregation of Jehovah Witnesses.”

In November Lawrence was charged in Pittsburg County District Court with 19 felony counts, including 11 of lewd molestation, seven of forcible sodomy and one count of rape by instrumentation.

The alleged victims in the cases were two preteen girls and one 5-year-old boy at the time.

Lawrence was arrested by McAlester police after three people came forward late last year alleging they had been molested some 30 years ago, according to the McAlester Police.

An affidavit filed in the case alleges one female was molested from the time she was 8 until she was 13 years old.

A second female alleged she was molested by Lawrence between the ages of 10 and 13, and a male alleged he was molested at the age of 5.

Lawrence told police that “he admitted to his church that all of the allegations were true” so that he could be reinstated into the church after being “dis-fellowshipped,” the affidavit alleges.

The affidavit alleges Lawrence said he confessed to his church and he named four Jehovah Witness church elders who he said were aware of some of the incidents.

Lawrence told police he confessed to his church about the allegations including an incident with fourth child, a boy who told his parents that he was “sexually assaulted” by Lawrence in the janitors closet at First National Bank, the affidavit alleges.

In December Lawrence’s attorney Warren Gotcher filed a motion stating the charges should dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired.

In response the district attorney’s motion states that because the alleged crimes were not reported to law enforcement until 2013, the statute of limitations has not run out.

The motion alleged that the Jehovah Witness Church prevented the victims from coming forward.

“The actions of the church, their banishment of (Lawrence) on one or more occasion and the directives of the governing body toward the victims and their family members regarding these crimes were actions of “concealment” and further actions preventing the victims from reporting the crimes to law enforcement,” the motion alleges.

According to the motion, the State of Oklahoma is asking the court to overrule the defendants motion to dismiss and order the matter to proceed to preliminary hearing.

Lawrence was released from jail Nov. 24 after posting a $50,000 bond. As a condition of his bond, he is not to have contact with the alleged victims in the case.

If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.

No one answered several calls to the Jehovah Witness Church and Lawrence could not be reached for comment.

MCALESTER, Okla. - A 76-year-old McAlester man was arrested Tuesday on 19 counts of sexual abuse after police received claims he molested several children while in a position of authority more than 30 years ago.

McAlester police detectives were alerted to the alleged sexual crimes conducted by Ronald Lawrence back in August when his first accuser reported abuse at the hands of a Jehovah's Witness church leader.

A woman now in her 40s told detectives Lawrence, an elder at McAlester's Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, abused her when she was just eight years old, inviting her to his home, where he fondled her and raped her in his bathtub, according to her testimony found in Lawrence's arrest warrant, which was issued Tuesday.

Two other accusers, also in their 40s, then came forward with similar stories of abuse. Both said they were very young, with one telling investigators the molestation took place from the time she was 10 until she was 13 years old. She reported being assaulted in Lawrence's swimming pool, at the lake and in the janitor's closet at the First National Bank where he worked, his arrest warrant indicates.

Detectives spoke with Lawrence shortly after, on Oct. 25. Lawrence initially denied any sexual contact with two of the three, but admitted to at least some form of inappropriate behavior with one of the alleged victims.

"They shouldn't have [happened]," Lawrence told detectives during a recorded interview. "I'm sure and [it] may have been on purpose, I touched her."

Lawrence also said he was "dis-fellowshipped" from the Kingdom Hall after two allegations from within that community came to light. Lawrence even named another allegation involving a boy in the First National Bank basement, according to the affidavits. He refused to speak with investigators.

But after the interview in which Lawrence denied the majority of allegations facing him, he called a McAlester detective, the document states, to say he had confessed to the Kingdom Hall in 2005 that the claims of abuse were true in order to be reinstated into it.

According to Lawrence's arrest warrant, the elder did not believe the Kingdom Hall ever elected to tell law enforcement of the potential crimes. If officials did, in fact, withhold that information from authorities, they too could be prosecuted.

We reached out to McAlester's Kingdom Hall Tuesday evening, but our efforts were unsuccessful.

The district attorney's office is now in the process of determining what laws Lawrence might have broken that were in place in the 1980s. McAlester detectives are also exploring the possibility of more victims.

McALESTER -- McAlester police arrested a 76-year-old church elder Tuesday on allegations that he molested children at a McAlester church more than 30 years ago.

Ronald Lawrence was charged Tuesday with 11 counts of lewd molestation, five counts of forcible oral sodomy, two counts of forcible sodomy and one count of rape by instrumentation.

McAlester police Sgt. Chris Morris said a woman reported to police last month that she had been molested by Lawrence when she was a child. Morris said the alleged abuse took place more than 30 years ago.

Morris said police spoke with two other alleged victims during the month-long investigation. Police don't know what spurred the victims into coming forward but believe there could be more who might also want to speak with police now that the allegations have come to light.

"If someone had an incident happen and they want to tell us about it, we would be glad to talk to them," Morris said. "This is an ongoing investigation."

Morris said Lawrence, an elder at a Jehovah's Witnesses church in McAlester, admitted to police he "may have inappropriately touched" one of the victims.

A representative from the church was not immediately available Tuesday evening to discuss the allegations.

A 76- year- old McAlester church elder was charged Tuesday for allegedly molesting three children more than 30 years ago, according to McAlester Police Sergeant Detective Chris Morris.
Included in court documents filed Tuesday are allegations that some members his church were allegedly aware of the allegations and that at least one child was allegedly molested in a janitor's closet at First National Bank of McAlester.
Ronald H. Lawrence,76, of McAlester was charged Pittsburg County Court with 19 felony counts for allegedly molesting three children from 1977 to 1982, after he was arrested by McAlester Police.

Lawrence who said he was an elder in the Jehovah Witness Kingdom Hall in McAlester was arrested by McAlester Police on Tuesday after several witnesses came forward this year alleging they were molested some 30 years ago.

In a recorded interview between Lawrence and McAlester Police detectives, Lawrence denied some of allegations but he did admit to molesting one girl.